May 9, 2011

Lean meatballs seasoned with a hint of allspice and served in a creamy beef gravy. These meatballs seems decadent but they are actually lighter than you think. Serve them as an appetizer with toothpicks or over your favorite noodles.

In a large deep saute pan, heat oil on medium heat, add onions and garlic; sauté until onions are translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Add celery and parsley and cook until soft, about 3-4 more minutes. Let cool a few minutes.

In a large bowl combine beef, egg, onion mixture, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and allspice. Mix well and form meatballs with your hands 1/8 cup each (fill 1/4 cup then divide the meat in half).

Add beef stock to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and slowly drop meatballs into the broth. Cover and cook about 20 minutes. Remove the meatballs with a slotted spoon and set aside in a serving dish. Strain the stock, add to blender with cream cheese and pulse until smooth. Return to pan and simmer a few minutes to thicken, then pour over meatballs. Garnish with parsley and serve over noodles or with toothpicks if you want to set these out as an appetizer.

This makes 22 meatballs, nutritional info is based on 5 meatballs with gravy.

I love serving meatballs as an appetizer on a toothpick! They always go over very well at my family get-togethers! I like adding in some finely diced mushrooms to my meatballs, it keeps them moist... just a secret tip of mine ;)Thanks for sharing!- Brittany

My hour glass- You are welcome! It was a no-brainer when you asked, my daughter was happy you requested them!!

You could probably use turkey but the flavor will change. What is unique about Swedish meatballs is the beef base. I'm sure they would still taste good with turkey, but better with beef. Buy the leanest beef you can find.

HOW AWESOME! I was just searching for Swedish Meatballs on your site last week, and now you've got a recipe! (I never made the recipe I found on a different site, it seemed too involved). Thank you! I've been craving these for a few weeks now.

If I wanted to make these with frozen meatballs, would I just thaw them and start with the step of simmering the beef stock with the meatballs? I know the results would be slightly different than homemade meatballs, but I'm a mommy of 5-month old twins.... gotta take shortcuts where I can! :)

I LOVE Swedish Meatballs and have made my own version for quite a while. This one looks delicious as well, I can't wait to try it. I think I'll add some mushrooms into the sauce as well. Just a question, I don't eat beef, so I always make turkey meatballs. Would chicken broth work instead of beef broth for the sauce?

Yum! So funny, I was just searching your blog for a swedish meatball recipe recently. I had to come up with my own version. I used extra-lean ground turkey, which I really liked - the flavor is milder than beef so you could really taste the warm spices.

Just tried this tonight and it was a hit. Had to alter the recipe due to not having certain ingredients. Used Greek Yogurt in place of the cream cheese and some cornstarch to thicken- was very satisfied. Also, didn't have quite enough beef broth so I made up the rest with chicken broth. Used an allspice substitution that I googled. Was very pleased with the outcome. Next time I plan to follow the recipe more exactly so I can experience the way it was written.

Thanks for posting another great looking recipe Gina! I was wondering: I have beef broth in my pantry. What's the difference between that and stock? Is stock more flavorful? If I simmer beef broth will it condense down to stock? Thanks for the advice!

This recipe is absolutely a keeper! I just made this for dinner (I already had ground turkey thawing and thought I was going to make meatloaf until I saw this :)). To give the turkey a little extra "beefy" flavor, I did grind up a beef bouillon cube and added that to the mix. Incredibly tasty--my hubby went nuts over it. :)

Oh boy; how timely is this; my grandson is coming this weekend and he just loves Swedish Meatballs - and I always make them for him and send him home with the leftovers, I don't want them around to tempt me; well looks like he won't be going home with a 'doggie bag' this weekend. Thank you so much for all your amazing recipes and ideas; it makes WW so easy - don't have to give up anything!!!

Can't wait to try these! They sound yummy. And I actually have a 1/8 c measuring cup! Love your recipes and the amazing thing is my family will eat the same food I am eating now and not even realize it is healthy!

Oh, Miss Gina. You've done it again. I made these for dinner tonight, and I didn't want dinner to end!! I used a shallot instead of a small onion, and beef bullion instead of beef stock. I also just let the cream cheese melt in the stock. I served them over egg noodles with fresh asparagus. I'm a sucker for your meatball dishes. Something about making meatballs is calming to me. Thank you for the recipe. I'll make it again for sure!

I keep trying to post a comment but it's not working ...love your site. This recipe looks great...did you make the noodles homeade or did you buy them? If you bought them what are they? They look delicious. I can't wait to make this recipe:)

I have an 1/8 cup measuring cup which I love. Comes in handy for halving recipes. Sometimes you can find them packaged as a "coffee scoop" (but it looks like a mini measuring cup) and if you look closely, it will say "1/8 cup" on it. Look near the measuring cups and near the coffee in your grocery store or at a kitchen supply store.

Thank you for this awesome recipe, Gina! Looking forward to making these later in the week.

I am new to Weight Watchers, and new to your site. I made this recipe for dinner the other night and my husband and I both cleaned our plates! I served them over egg noodles and they were just delicious! Thank you for making healthy food a bit easier (and yummier!). I was starting to get discouraged with Weight Watchers, but now I am on the road to success!

I made these tonight for my husband and I and they were so delicious! We love Swedish meatballs, but my recipe is so fattening and leaves us feeling uncomfortably stuffed and weighed down. The meatballs were so fast and easy. They had a great taste and filled us both. I split the recipe in half and it was the perfect amount! Oh and I must comment...simmering the noodles in the beef stock was so much easier than browning them and adding them to the sauce. The only problem I had was from substituting water and a beef bullion cube for the stock...it did not make a thick enough sauce so I added one TBSP of flour. Please tell me Gina...do you make your beef stock or purchase it? All I saw at Wall-mart was broth.

Awesome, going to make them today! I own a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop that works amazing for making smaller more WW friendly meatballs. as well as cookies. I hope it yields close to your 1/8th cup. Cant wait to try it out. I am also a huge fan of homemade noodles I just wish it was not so point heavy. Semolina flour is not friends of the WW community...

@kayveebee - that is unusual that they crumbled, they always hold together well. In fact I've made them without the breadcrumbs and they held fine, just not as soft. Maybe you added to much breadcrumbs?

Had these for dinner tonight and they were a great hit!!! Thanks for the awesome recipe Gina. BTW, I used a small cookie scooper which was exactly 1/8 cup. I scooped all of the meat out onto parchment paper, then rolled them, made for quick work!

Thank you for sharing your delicious recipes with us! I'm new to Weight Watchers and have previously avoided it because I love to cook really great food - your website allows me to still do that while losing weight. This recipe was wonderful. I've never made meatballs before, but they came out great and my husband was delighted!

WOW! So delicious! I used ground turkey instead, but it tasted just like beef. The only thing my husband and I talked about at dinner was the moist meatballs and to-die-for gravy. I could eat that gravy all day (I even added some to the steamed broccoli we had with dinner). Thank you Gina for a fabulous recipe!

DELICIOUS! Just a word of warning... when Gina says to use a blender... don't use a food processor... you will spray your kitchen with beef broth. ;) Lesson learned. ;) But this recipe was worth the mess it made (due to operator error). I had to have 1-1/2 servings & use up some of my weeklies for this one (my husband had 2 servings & my kids devoured it too). I served it over brown rice & the rice just soaked up the yummy sauce. Thanks for another awesome recipe Gina!

I LOVE swedish meatballs, so I was excited to try this recipe tonight. I used turkey (we don't do red meat), had to add a bit more bread crumbs, but they were still good. BUT, I could not get the sauce thick. I let it boil and boil and boil. After dinner, I added some flour and boiled more. It's still runny???

I tired these and loved them! Thank you! Whenever I do meatballs, I use a small cookie scoop to shape the balls. It works great and it is about the perfect size for these, 1/8 cup. Just thought I would share something that works so slick! Thanks for all your yummy recipes!

Thanks for all the fabulous recipes. Your Stroganoff and Swedish meatball recipes hit a particularly special note with me. They are very close to my mom's recipes (she's passed on and no one seems to know where her recipe collection went)and I am so grateful to have these. Do you happen to have a scalloped potato recipe (also using canned soup, yikes)? They are the best I've ever tasted.

I made this dinner and it was sooooo filling and YUMMY!! My hubby and teenagers love it when I make your recipes because they're always great and they don't feel like their eating my "diet food". The teenagers polished off what was left for lunch the next day. Thanks Gina for all your hard work.

I LOVE all your recipes, your website is the only place I go to now for all my cooking.Quick Q - I've made this twice, both times very delicious but the sauce will NOT thicken. I blend the beef stock & cream cheese in blender...then I let it simmer for a while, but still very soupy (not thick at all). It's still delicious, but most of the sauce falls on the bottom because it's so thin. Any advice? Thanks so much!!

This was amazing, and earned an A+ from the hubby. I doubled the sauce and didn't use blender. Just whisked it a bit. Had to add a little corn starch to thicken. Served over no yolk egg noodles. Everyone loved it!!!

My bf made these for dinner the other night.... He doesn't cook... Like ever... But recently he decided he wants to cook dinner every other Friday. He made this... And this to him is a lot of work and took him about 2 hours to make, seriously. Lol but they were so good! I was impressed and he couldn't believe he had made them! He says they are the best meatballs heals ever eaten. I was so proud!

We got our copy of the 2012 Ikea catalogue in the mail yesterday! I have made your meatballs for dinner to celebrate while we oh and ah over all the things we want to buy...I was looking for a swedish meatball recipe and luckily looked here first, thanks for another great skinny save!

These are amazing! Thank you for sharing such a great recipe with us. I finely ground oats (in place of the bread crumbs) to make it gluten free but still give it a binder. They were very moist and super yummy. Everyone gave it 5 stars and said that they want me to make it again. Definitely comfort food for all of us. Thanks again Gina...you definitely have the gift of creating amazing recipes.

This is excellent! I was skeptical that the sauce would be good without all the fat in it. It was PERFECT. My husband loved it! This is a keeper for sure! I made my meatballs with ground turkey and they were delish! Thanks!

Hey Gina! I love your blog and have made a few of your recipes. Am about to start cooking this, and I was just looking at the points and wondering how you came up with them. My 95% lean ground beef is 16 points for the whole pound, so divided 4 ways, that would be 4 points a serving for just the meat. Add in the eggs, breadcrumbs, and cream cheese, and I am figuring it would be more like 6 points a serving or so. Am I not figuring this out right? Thanks!

Had these tonight and they were yummy. I want to try them next time with ground turkey since we like ground turkey a lot around here. I did add some cornstarch to the gravy near the end because my sauce wasn't thickening as much as I would have liked. If I figured it right, I came up with about 5 points a serving and not 4. Still not sure how you came up with the points and am wondering because of course I am all for it being less points. :-)

I am new-ish to your site- I found you from Snack-girl.com mentioning that you were a great option for healthy, weight-watcher ready, dinner ideas. Anyway, I have been browsing your site, gathering ideas on what I wanted to try first, and last night I finally dove in and made these Swedish meatballs, served over potatoes (think Ikea:) with your Roasted Broccoli with smashed garlic on the side. HEAVEN!!! Both of my toddlers loved it, and so did the parents! The leftovers today heated up wonderfully. Thank you so much for the time and energy you put into creating DELICIOUS healthy food, with normal ingredients! (Not just healthy and tasteless:) Especially with the WW points already figured! It is a huge time saver for a mommy who loves cooking yummy food. I am going to try your easy broccoli pasta and went to my local market to buy the romano cheese yesterday. Thank you thank you thank you! I am passing your site along to everyone I know, and I will be a regular visitor here in the future:)

YUM!!! These are delicious! I made them in accordance with Gina's recipe, except I skipped the 'strain the stock, put in blender' part. I just added the cream cheese into the stock after taking out the meatballs and whisked it awhile. No, the cream cheese didn't fully incorporate, but the tiny little white lumps weren't a problem to us. Definitely get the stuff called "stock," and don't try to use broth. It has a ton of rich flavor. Thank you for such a delicious recipe. I loved it, and my fourteen year old daughter loved it, too. We are in our second week of WW, and we are so grateful for your recipes! Thank you! Also, we agree with the poster who said she preferred these to IKEA. Gina's meatballs beat IKEA by a mile!!! Thank you, Gina!

This is the third recipe I've tried from Gina's site. I'm officially hooked and obsessed. My husband and I both loved the recipe. The only thing I may alter next time, a little less parsley? It's a little too fragrant for me. But, I wouldn't omit it entirely. Another simple and delicious recipe! My husband said he can't wait to find out what's for dinner tomorrow from SkinnyTaste. :)

Delicious! I was hesitant to make this, since my MIL makes the world's best, most decadent (lots of cream!) Swedish meatballs every Christmas and it seemed unlikely a "light" recipe could live up to it. Boy was I wrong! My husband asked, "These are LIGHT?!" Thanks again!

These were so yummy! I tried thickening the sauce with a little corn starch but it got all clumpy so I had to strain it - I'll try flour next time. I served the meatballs over rice and my whole family loved it! (Even my extremely picky 1 year old!) Thanks so much! Your recipes are making it so much easier for me to "diet" and still eat the same meal I fixed the rest of the family!

Katie - did you put the cornstarch directly into the hot stock? Cornstarch needs to be dissolved in a little cold water before you can add it to something hot or you will get the clumps. I made that mistake many times before I picked up that tip. It really does help!

Thanks so much for your amazing,delicious recipes. My family has loved every one I've made. You've made following weight watchers so much easier than it's been in the past. Planning out meals using your recipes truly makes eating healthier feel 'normal' instead of leaving us feeling deprived. I made your broccoli mac and cheese for supper last night, and my daughter and I kept checking and re-checking point values after eating it, because it was so amazing.(Not that we were not believing you...it just tasted too good to be true!) - a compliment to you. I know we wouldn't be as successful as we've been in losing those extra pounds if not for you and your wonderful recipes. Thank you so very much!Also, we're in Canada and wondered if our Catelli Smart Pasta would be the same as the Ronzoni Smart Taste ones that you use in alot of your recipes. They are also made by Catelli. I find it difficult to compare the values in converting to metric.

I made this last night and followed the directions to a T, except the blending part of the sauce. I added the cream cheese to my pan and let it melt over very low heat. As other reviewers have commented, my sauce was still very runny, so I ended up using a bit of cornstarch to thicken it. It was delicious!! Thanks for the fabulous recipes, and keep them coming!!

I also used a little cornstarch mixed with water first and it worked great. They were awesome. I didn't think I would like the allspice either, but it was actually good. Thanks for wonderful recipes that are actually good for you!!

We loved the Swedish Meatball recipe, but last night we were a little pressed for time, so instead of making meatballs we cooked the meatball ingredients in the pan and broke the meat apart. Then we made the sauce and thickened it with cornstarch, added the meat back and mixed in 4 servings of Yoder's wide egg noodles. It was an amazing version of Beef Stroganoff!!! We will never make our full fat & calorie version again because this was so much better than that!

This recipe was fabulous. I love swedish meatballs when they are made well and that is what this recipe does -makes them great! Like other readers, my sauce did not thicken at all - not sure if it is because I use water/beef cubes instead of stock (it's cheaper and normally works well!). I tried adding cornstarch but was in a rush and you can't rush cornstartch! Next time I would use a little flour to thicken it. Otherwise, it really is a perfect recipe!

I LOVE all of your recipes; I cook almost exclusively from your site as my husband and I are on WW maintenance. I made these last night but I had to simmer them for almost twice as long before they were cooked through (I used a meat thermometer). I have noticed this trend with most of your recipes (having to cook much longer); do you have gas or electric appliances? Are they industrial (like Viking)? I've got a house full of electric, so that might explain my extended cooking times :-p

Made these tonight and served over noodles with a spinach salad. So yummy and filling!!! I did use quick oats instead of the breadcrumbs (I tend to use oats rather than breadcrumbs in anything as a binder) and the meatballs came out great. Thanks for another excellent dish Gina!

This is the first recipe of yours I've tried and it was delicious! I used reduced fat sour cream instead of cream cheese (it was the only ingredient I was missing, so I wasn't going to go out just for that) and it tasted great. My only suggestion would be to double the sauce - I added some cornstarch and let it cook down for a bit to get it thick enough for my liking, but by that time, there was barely any sauce left and our meatballs were a little dry. I don't do WW, so I'm not sure how that would affect the points, and might not even be necessary if you don't mind sauce that's a bit runny. It did taste great, and I'll definitely be making it again!

I am making these right now so that we can have a healthy dinner before my children get home from school and have other activities. I have made these before and they are awesome.I can't wait for dinner. My house smells so good right now!!!Thanks Gina.

I made these for dinner tonight- very tasty!! Is the sauce supposed to be pretty thin? or should I have simmered it longer after blending it? (It was kind of the consistency of whole milk) ...still VERY good.

I'm a new follower and this is now one of my favorite blogs. Lots of inspiration. And I'm from Sweden, well raised in Sweden and married to a Swede.

Actually Swedish meatballs are made with lesser ingredients: ground meat, breadcrumbs, egg, salt and pepper. I do them in the oven and exclude the breadcrumbs - less carbs!

We usually eat it with a brown cream sauce (brunsås) which is basically a bechamelsauce where you replace the milk with cream and beef stock, and add som soy sauce to it. All the kids LOVE it over here. You eat it with mashed potatoes or just boiled potatoes. Traditional Swedish food =)

Delicious! My husband wants to add it to our rotation. I used ground turkey and added flour to my sauce to thicken. Hubby has two plates. I really want to put the gravy in a cup and drink it! LOL. So good!

This is a really good recipe. I had to make some substitutions due to what I had on hand but I was very happy with the results. I used 93% lean ground turkey and chicken broth instead of beef and omitted the bread crumbs altogether. I love the flavor. I'll have to try it unsubstituted asap.

Just made them with small changes. I used ground veal and in place of the cream cheese I used no fat sour cream and low fat chicken broth, only because it's what I had in the house. Still a winner delicious .

Hi Gina, I hope you don't me posting this, but I wanted to let you know that a correction on the Points Plus Value for this recipe might be needed. I just entered Fat: 10 g • Protein: 25.1 g • Carb: 8.5 g • Fiber: 1 g in my etools and I got 6PP for 1 serving?

Made these for dinner tonight and it got the husband seal of approval and the request to make them again. I used ground vension and 1/4 cup egg beaters but i doubled the low fat cream cheese to get the color and consistency i wanted. The meatballs are tender and delicious. Keep the cream sauce seperate, plate the meatballs over the noodles and then pour the sauce so your noodles are well coated. Ronzoni Smart Taste Extra Wide Noodles (180 cal,.5g fat) worked beautifully for this dish.

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This was fantastic. I used ground venison in place of the beef, but kept the rest of the recipe exactly as is. My husband raved about this and said it tasted even better the second day when he gobbled up the leftovers. Thanks Gina for a great and easy recipe!

Swedish meatballs does not contain neither celery, garlic or allspice. It's a shame to call it " Swedish" if it's not :pSWEDISH meatballs: lean beef, breadcrumbs, water, egg and mustard. And serve them with potatoes and lingonberry yam. THAT'S swedish.

Made this tonight for the first time. The only thing I did differently was use 99% fat free ground turkey breast. This was SO good! This does not taste light at all! My family is not doing WW, but we are elminating all the "junk" from our diets and are trying to make smarter food choices. Recipes like this make it easy to do! Thank you!

My whole family loved this recipe. Even my super picky 7-year old ate without complaining - and my husband went back for seconds. I made a double batch, and for the second batch, I did use an entire carton of beef broth so we could have more gravy. This definitely will become one of our staples. Thank you!

i commented a while ago that i have made this exact recipe before and every time i make it the sauce turns out really runny, but i follow the recipe.. the only thing i am unsure about is straining the stock, i just pour the stock from the pan into a strainer that strains into the blender, straining a few small chunks out... am i doing the right thing? i follow it exactly and its way too runny. help?

I've made this twice and strain the stock through a fine-mesh strainer into the blender. it gets rid of all the little soft meat pieces that come off during simmering. I also have thickened the sauce with a bit of flour and water and cook until thick- otherwise it is too thin. I made it with mashed potatoes the second time and LOVED the combo! We had broccoli too.

Hi Gina - I *love* your site and recipes. Plus I got your cookbook for my bday yesterday - can't wait to start trying out the recipes! :) I was wondering the same thing about cooking these in the crock pot. Do you think it would work/have any tips on how to make it work? Thank you in advance!!

I made this tonight. Hit with me, still waiting for my husband's verdict. I started with 2 C. of beef stock but as the meatballs simmered, the stock evaporated. I added more before adding the cream cheese (I didn't do the blender step). Mine thickened fine, I just had to give it some time. I wonder if my stock evaporated from being on too high of a heat? Or because I added mushrooms? I probably could have cut down my simmering time a little, but I was afraid my meatballs wouldn't be cooked thoroughly. And I used ground turkey and they tasted fine. For this recipe I will probably use ground beef next time, but turkey works in a pinch.

Great recipe! I changed it up just a bit using turkey, no-chicken chicken broth, gluten free egg noodles, and shallots. This was my first time making this dish and it turned out great. My husband loved it!. Thanks!!!

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8.5 grams *per serving.* I count 20 grams of carbs from the breadcrumbs, 4 from the cream cheese, 7 from the onion, and 1 each from the garlic, parsley, celery, and broth. That's 35 for the entire recipe, so one serving would be 8.75 by my count.

Wow, these were incredible! I made exactly as written and served over pappardelle. My husband couldn't believe these were light. We both loved them. They're the perfect comfort food. Gina, thank you so much for what you do!!